Monday, May 07, 2007

TOP STORY >>Rezoning map for Cabot is finalized

IN SHORT: Many pupils will go to different elementary schools after Stagecoach opens.

By HEATHER HARTSELLLeader staff writer

The first draft of attendance zones for Cabot elementary schools was thrown out Wednesday and a new version was approved for the upcoming school year.

The Cabot School Board, following a recommendation from the buildings and grounds committee during a special meeting of the board, unanimously approved the new rezoning map, which accommodates the Autumnwood and Pinewood subdivisions and the Butlerville community.

The district’s buildings and grounds committee met prior to the school board meeting and went over the adjustments made, voting to accept those changes for the start of the school year and get the new map out to Cabot’s elementary campuses as soon as possible.

Elementary school secretaries will have the final rezoning map available Monday morning for parents to check if their zone has moved.

“It was a tedious process and a hard process,” Brooks Nash, head of the buildings and grounds committee, told the school board when making the recommendation. “We had two community meetings, listened to parents’ concerns, moved lines and made adjustments and have redrawn the lines,” he said.

School board member Wendel Msall seconded the recommendation, adding, “Kudos to those who spent time working on it.”The district’s technology director, Kendall Wells, and assistant superintendent Jim Dalton spent countless hours working on the rezoning map to allow for the opening of Cabot’s eighth elementary, Stagecoach Elementary, the district’s $6.6 million campus that will be completed by August.

Using parents’ comments and suggestions, boundary lines were changed in some areas resulting in significant changes in the Eastside, Ward Central and Stagecoach elementary school zones.

The Butlerville community, which has been attending Ward Central Elementary, will remain at Ward Central and not go to Stagecoach in the fall.

Children who live in the Pinewood and Autumn-wood subdivisions, currently attending Central Elementary, will move to the new Stagecoach Elementary in August.

Austin’s elementary students will attend school at Eastside Elementary, not Ward Central unlike the first draft showed.Other changes in the final version include students who live on County Road 294 and 261 will attend Southside Elementary and Cabot students living along John Harden Drive to the county line, Gateway Drive, Grayhawk Road, CR 264 and CR 1232, all off of Hwy. 5 at Hwy. 67/167, will attend school at Westside Elementary.

WestsideWestside Elementary’s finalized boundary lines begin at Hwy. 89 at the high school campus and head east to Hwy. 67/167, excluding the subdivision behind Kroger. They continue to Hwy. 5 in an almost horizontal line, and follow the Lonoke-Pulaski County line down to Hwy. 67/167.

Elementary students living along John Harden Drive, A.J. Patton Road, Gateway Drive, South Rockwood and Grayhawk Road will attend Westside Elementary in the final version; the first draft showed those students going to Southside Elementary.

CentralCentral Elementary’s boundary lines will include anyone living inside of an almost triangular-shaped piece that runs south along the railroad tracks, follows Hwy. 89 from the high school over to the intersection of Glenwood Drive and then cuts down and across behind Middle School South, following Kerr Station Road down to Hwy. 321 and back to the railroad overpass.

EastsideEastside Elementary’s attendance zone now includes all of Austin, Omni Farm Road, Busters Lane, and Ed Hamyes Road up to its intersection with Williams Road., as well as within Cabot to the east of Hwy. 89 and down to the intersection of Hwy. 89 and Campground Road.

It then cuts across over to Linda Lane, cutting the Countrywood subdivision in half as it makes its way to the intersection of S. Stagecoach Road and Honeysuckle Lane.

It continues east out to the intersection of Seven Gables Drive and Dogwood Lane and then dips down to include Jack Faucett Road and Allison Road, up to the intersection of Seaton Road and New Horizon Road, including Lenderman Lane. It borders Ward Central Elementary’s zone to the north, with a peak at the intersection of Jones Road and Hwy. 38 before dipping down and going back to Hwy. 38 at the intersection with Hwy. 321, and then follows Hwy. 38 back to Cabot.

SouthsideSouthside Elementary’s zone will now include an area from the Pulaski County line north to Bill Foster Memorial Highway, with Hwy. 67/167 its border to the west.

From the intersection of Hwy. 89 and Glenwood Drive and everything to the south is included at Southside, including half of Diederich Lane, half of New Country Road and CR 294 before going down to Hwy. 321 and stopping at the intersection of Hwy. 321 and Burgess Lane.

It heads north to include CR 323 up to its intersection with Dogwood Meadows Lane; Oasis Road is included, as well as Taffy Lane; Woody Lane and CR 267 is not included.

Its boundary stops at the Cabot district boundary, butting up against the Carlisle, Des Arc and Lonoke school districts.

NorthsideNorthside Elementary will include elementary students from the center of town and behind Kroger out to those living along Mt. Springs Road up to the intersection with Thompson Drive.

It will include Seven Point Lane, down to Hwy. 89 stopping shy of the fire station and Oak Brook Drive. Northside’s boundaries travel east to include along Hwy. 367 to Austin, including Berry Lane, Park Drive, Polk Street, down to Hwy. 89.

Magness CreekMagness Creek Elementary is set to include Paula Lane, the West Oaks area, Griffin Road and High Point Drive; its boundary with Ward Central will be at the intersection of Lewisburg and Waters roads, and Hwy. 319 and Griffin Lane.

Ward CentralWard Central Elementary has grown to include Williams Road, Waters Road, Revely Road and Sandy Lane; it ends at Hwy. 13 out to the east to include Butlerville.

Deer Meadows Lane, CR 715 and Alvin Smith Road are also included in Ward Central.